Aftermarket Alterations in my 60s

Even the backpack needs alterations

My sewing journey began with making my doll's clothes with remnants from the table at Pacific Iron as a 7 year old. My first work on human clothes was hemming pants. I am 5'2" and all pants are too long.

I did some garment sewing in elementary and middle school (I sewed my first pants suit for 5th grade when they let us wear pants to school, I made a couple A-line dresses: all of this from double knit polyester)

There has been more, but in-between all those projects has been a lot of altering. Letting it out, taking it in, making it longer, so much making it shorter.

Lately I have been rehemming all my tshirts so they can either hang out and look acceptable to me, or tuck in and not have an extra roll around my extra roll.

Oh, and I have gotten bigger, for emotional and old lady issues.

The sewing activities that fascinate me now are remodels. I enjoy going back into old work and finding ways to make it more wearable. Hemming the tshirts has been one activity, moving tags from the itchy places is another. Replacing zippers in coats (why was I installing 28 inch zippers when a 24 was reachable for my stubby little arms?). I still put pockets into things that didn't start out with pockets, but I have redone pockets in items to reflect the knowledge I have now about how to hang a pocket, or to totally change out an altered pocket that hasn't aged well.

Stitching down loose facing in shirt that has made it not as easy to grab and wear.  There's been a lot of this in my closet, so much I haven't bothered to photograph it. The shirt will still need a press, but it won't need a hour of pressing.

All of these take a lot more time and unpicking than they used to. Sometimes it's helpful that I saved fabric leftovers so that I can use new pieces rather than trying to find extra fabric in the garment itself. One of my projects for last summer was going to be making the wooden ruler sundress fit me again. I do have extra pieces, all cut into a long role of bias tape. I just lost heart.

I have not tossed it out though.

Hats by Bill Cunningham up for auction

 

Right now, hats made by Bill Cunningham are up for auction. I found out from the NYT article

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/style/bill-cunningham-william-j-hats.html

which is full of some great tidbits and photos of the purchasers (and behind a paywall, apologies)

The photos of the hats themselves are on the auction website. More than just these four.

https://hindmanauctions.com/auctions/6324-spring-fashion-and-accessories?page=1&per=48&tab=lots#lot_8

Mending and Repairs, Family, Work and Sewing (why can't I use pins and thread to fix them?)

 

This year is throwing the entire trash can of trouble at me. I am not fond of sharing my personal life on this sewing blog, but it's rocky. Work has sucked a lot of my attention, it's not going well, and I have counted on work to distract me from my personal life. There is a high likelihood I will lose my job, or that my job will disappear. 

No, sewing is not a job. Not one that I can make enough money at.

(redacted gripe about how the standard response to something I've made is: you could sell that. No. Stop it. Not everything can or should be monetized)

Meanwhile, I made mittens. And then remade them because they were not warm enough. More often than not, when I sew a thing to fill a need, the act of creation eliminates the need. I'm sick of icy streets and sidewalks; make new mittens.

Voila! Winter, begone!

I know I made a mitten pattern or two, but I know I did not like the results so started over from available materials and first principles.  I have a fleece glove that fits just perfectly.

So I traced it off.

I have a lot of  fleece chunks and scrap from a project I did for SewBaby back last century (at least I haven't had to move so haven't had to ditch the useful stash).

I ended up handsewing them while I watched Svengoolie. It's a quick sew, it's repetitive in a soothing way, I could keep an even and very small seam allowance.

A little tailoring to fit

I wore them outside and rapidly realized they would need some lining to keep the wind out. 

Found some Spoonflower lycra scrap and put it on the interior non-thumb side.

Trusty hand model led to silly video at the start of this post.

In the same vein, I repaired the welts on my Orange "I am my own traffic cone" parka. 
I did not do as tidy or invisible a job, because I apparently alternate between doing a good job and an adequate one.

I am working on a pair of jeans, in moleskin, that I realized will need lining. This realization came pretty far into the process, so we're going to end up with a 'lining your jeans' focused post. Meanwhile, I am going to spend today working on the duties spreadsheet my boss has requested for our meeting tomorrow. 

Don't get comfortable.

PS: a new to me fix for a broken jacket zipper bottom tab on this video link (will start at the fix I am referencing). Low temp hot glue stick and a plastic straw!

https://youtu.be/xox768Pcwtg?si=MndJm4pxB4qPEBH3&t=45

That Sinking Feeling

Celebrating the new year by installing a new kitchen sink faucet

 

Fittings don't match, can't finish putting it in. Plus the hot water supply pipe won't entirely shut and is leaking about a gallon an hour

Pipe is draining to a garden hose to 

a garbage can in the basement.

To be fair, it's an old house and it's a new faucet. And in removing the old faucet, it finally broke, so I can't put it back on.

Happy new year!